First Stages Of Porous Materials Synthesis Starting From Clinoptilolite: Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Zeolites are crystalline materials widely used as molecular sieves and catalysts. Their uses in processes which involve large molecules are limited by their microporous structure. That is why in the last years a lot of efforts have been conducted to develop materials with crystalline zeolite type structure beyond the micropore range. Recently, mesoporous materials with pore dimensions between 2 to 10 nm have been developed. However, these materials have several disadvantages such as poor stability and low and weak acidity. Also, they have lower ion exchange capacity than zeolites. The preparation of crystalline mesoporous aluminosilicate materials is difficult because the synthesis conditions that produce mesoporosity are very different from those used for zeolite synthesis [1-4].